When engaged in waterborne activities, such as boating, there is a constant risk of unintentionally falling into the water and being separated from the vessel. To mitigate the risk of drowning, personal floatation devices (PFDs), otherwise known as life jackets, are in widespread use and are responsible for saving countless lives from drowning. The PFDs come in many different configurations but essentially all provide a vest-like structure that fits over the upper torso. The vest is secured by a harness, in the simplest form tie straps, so that the vest is retained on the upper torso. The vest is buoyant and is effective to maintain the wearer afloat and face-up in water.
The vest may be naturally buoyant, such as when made with a closed-cell foam, or may be inflatable to achieve the requisite buoyancy. Inflation may come from a small pressurized gas cylinder, a manual inflation valve, or both. When properly utilized, the vest is capable of supporting the wearer and maintaining the wearer afloat in a stable condition indefinitely.
However, although the PFD supports the wearer, the prompt recovery of the wearer is important due to the exposure to adverse conditions, such as the water temperature and loss of body heat.
Whilst existing vests are made from a high visibility material, such as a day glow orange or other fluorescent material, the rescue of the wearer does depend upon the wearer being visually locatable. In even a relatively small body of calm water, the wearer may not be readily discernable from the general surrounding environment, and, if the wearer is unconscious, is not able to attract attention to rescuers through waving or shouting. This problem is exacerbated when there is any degree of wave motion and of course the ability to spot an individual from an aircraft is extremely difficult.
Various proposals have been made to enhance the visibility to facilitate rescue.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,096 to Scesney shows an inflatable floatation device that forms a tetrahedron that can be inflated by a person in distress. This does however require the device to be inflated by the user and remain tethered to the user once deployed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,227 shows a PFD with a folded marker device on the back of the PFD. The marker device may be released. This device however is relatively bulky and may create imbalance such that the face of the wearer is in fact held in to the water rather than supported above the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,258 discloses a PFD in which an elongate bar is attached to the PFD. The bar may be inflated so that a wand is provided that enhances visibility. The wand is intended to be detachable and therefore its position relative to the wearer may vary.
It is object to the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantages.